Pages

Monday, July 25, 2016

Seeing the Sights in Vermont

New Hampshire too, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Last week Jim and I headed out to find the Longest Wooden Bridge in the World (their words).

If you remember your geography, the southern part of Vermont isn't very wide and we had to drive east for a bit to find this bridge on the Connecticut River which is the border between Vermont and New Hampshire.

First we had to drive over some mountains taking scenic highway 4 through Killington, a big ski destination during the winter. All this beautiful scenery reminded us of the trip we made two years ago with Anne and Scotty. So in honor of that trip and fond memories we stopped at Long Trail brewery for lunch!

Very nice building with a store, bar and eating inside or outside. The choices outside were under a canopy or out in the open by the river. We chose outside by the Ottauquechee River. When we first sat down we thought we'd made a mistake as the breeze was a little chilly. But we ordered some white chili that warmed us up. Of course we each had a draft beer and sandwiches. The food isn't anything special, just pub food but very tasty.

Soon we were on our way. At one point we were stopped by construction, can't remember if it was before we ate or afterwords...no matter the view was great.

Right after Taftsville we took highway 12 south to Windsor so we could see this bridge. Drove right by the road to it! Turned around and saw the itty, bitty sign and crossed the Connecticut River as there wasn't a place to stop in Vermont for pictures.

I had to cross the street in order to get the whole bridge in the picture! It is huge and if you read about it (click on picture, it should open and be a wee bit bigger) you'll see this structure is the fourth one in this location.

Our next stop was north of here so we drove in New Hampshire along the east side of the river until we needed to cross back into Vermont. At White River Junction we picked up the interstates and hopped off on highway 5 so we could go to King Arthur Flour. While Jim had coffee and dessert I shopped. Well mostly I looked. I certainly didn't buy everything I wanted to because where would I store it? I do order from them a few times a year. But on this day I restrained myself. Then I joined Jim in the lounge area and had some coffee and a macaroon.

On our way home we retraced our route and stopped in Quechee at a touristy place that had free samples of Cabot Cheese where we sampled quite a few yummy cheeses...we skipped the distillery, maybe next time!

Our next stop was Taftsville to get a better look at their covered bridge. We were both impressed with the trusses and the river flowing under it

Also on this Highway is Woodstock. How should I describe this city without sounding like a snob? But it's a small city with attitude! A lot of posh shops and restaurants seemingly out in the middle of nowhere. I'd like to go back and explore. The population is just over 3000 and I'm not sure what industry there is but they have some money judging by the type of shops and cars we saw.

Of course we can't explore anything right now. Last Friday our truck was towed to a repair shop. At least we hope so, we've not heard if it arrived. The driver wasn't even sure where to take it! Cell service out here is practically nil and the young man couldn't pull up his map. Jim showed him so cross your fingers and pray for us!

Boo is pretty much the same. His meds are working and he sleeps mostly. Especially during the night.